The Pickin' On series of releases has a simple formula: Get together some hot bluegrass pickers and let them loose on an album's worth of songs by a huge rock band or artist. The series has proved quite popular and CMH keeps crankin' 'em out. This disc collects 12 highlights from past releases, including versions of the Rolling Stones' "Paint It Black," U2's "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For," Jimi Hendrix's "Purple Haze," and Pink Floyd's "Wish You Were Here." Part of the fun of the series is hearing familiar AOR staples being deconstructed and rebuilt bluegrass style. It must have been a daunting task to arrange Bruce Springsteen's "Born to Run" or the Beatles' "Paperback Writer." Bluegrass purists no doubt find this concept to be a sellout of the worst kind, but more easygoing fans of the style and fans of weird concepts in general will find much to enjoy in both the Pickin' On series and in this sampler. ~ Tim Sendra
